Bank of America Pilot Tests New Cooperative Short Sale Program

Well it appears Bank of America is yet again pilot testing another new short sale program. Bank of America seems to always be under fire for their lengthy short sale process with hundreds of thousands of homeowners in default. Our most popular blog posts and comments revolve around Bank of America short sales and frustration with their lengthy and confusing process. See related Bank of America Articles below:

Bank of America's new pilot short sale program is focused on helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. Bank of America has diligently worked to resolve issues with the traditional short sale process by implementing a paperless and streamlined short sale process on the Equator technology platform. This program has had it aches and pains, but is running fairly smoothly and has greatly reduced the time to process a short sale from a languishingly long 8 to 12 months to a more respectable 2 to 3 months.

Prior to Bank of America rolling out the government’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) Short Sale program in April, they began Cooperative Short Sale pilot program. This program is structured similarly to HAFA in that Bank of America will work with the homeowner and agent prior to marketing the property to gain agreement on the terms of the short sale so that once an offer is received the approval is streamlined. The objective of the Cooperative Short Sale program is to utilize this program for customers that do not qualify or fallout of the HAFA program. HAFA is always considered first and no HAFA eligible loans will be included in the program.

The Cooperative Short Sale program is still being developed and tested by Bank of America with a small number of homeowners. Some specific eligibility requirements will include asset reviews, no second liens or MI on the loan, and require participating investors.

Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale Program similarities to HAFA include:

* BofA will work with the customer prior to listing the home to help establish the listing price using a valuation to determine fair market value.
* BofA will ask that the property be actively marketed for 120 days. If it does not sell in that time, we will consider a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure to satisfy the mortgage.
* Since the appraisal and qualifications are completed upfront, short sale approval will take less than two weeks to complete.

Results from the pilot test will be used to design the upcoming expansion of the program. Announcements will be made when we expand this program beyond the pilot and will outline details of the program.

Share this:

About Craig Baranowski

Craig Baranowski is the team leader for Team Baranowski of Keller Williams Realty Emerald Coast on Scenic 30A. He is a multi-million dollar top producing agent on Scenic 30A, Panama City Beach and Destin with extensive experience in investment property, second homes and distressed real estate. When he is not selling real estate he is spending time with his family on the beach or training for his next cycling race as an elite masters racer.

I'm trying to purchase a short sale where BOA has the mortgage. I'm told my offer is the best and has been submitted. I don't understand why only one offer is being submitted, is this correct? I know the seller has an attorney as well as the listing agent. It appears the attorney is communicating with BOA, not the listing realtor. Can this be? BOA had previously approved an offer from another buyer, but the deal fell through when a pipe leaked and damaged the kitchen cabinets. One would think since BOA was "familiar" with this particular property that would streamline the process. I've been waiting weeks for an answer. I'm represented by a realtor but she is as frustrated as I by BOA. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or help for getting this deal done? Thanks.

Bank of America will only handle one offer at a time in the Equator system. This is good for you as the buyer as you can be assured that your offer will be seriously considered and you will have first right of refusal on any counter offer from Bank of America. I truly believe a multiple offer scenario in a short sale just adds more stress and uncertainty in an already stressful and frustrating process.

Once Bank of America rejects a short sale or a buyer walks from the deal the file is closed. When a new offer is initiated into the system a new file is opened and it is assigned to a new negotiator. Unfortunately all of the work, due diligence and analysis by Bank of America is thrown away and they start completely over.

If you set your expectation for an answer in 90 days you will most likely be pleasantly surprised when you get a response back. If your expectations are for a response in 3 to 5 weeks you will be frustrated and disappointed.

My husband and I have been trying to purchase a home that is a BOA short sale since February of this year – the negotiator's keep messing up, paperwork keeps getting lost and we are getting NOWHERE. It has now been 7 months, our financing is in place and no one will answer the seller's phone calls at all. Can anyone be of any help????????

What state are you in? I have negotiators that can get the file moving if the sellers are willing to work with them. Let me know.

It sounds like you need to start over and getting everything refreshed in the system. All of the old legacy short sales with Bank of America have moved to the new Equator system and short sales move much quicker. Having nothing since February is not acceptable.

I am in the BOA Coop Short sale program and this is the second offer that I have (1st fell thru b/c it was taking too long). I received a second offer (cash) and everything has to be started over in Equator again – another BPO has to be ordered and a whole lot of tasks have to be done before my realtor can even upload this second offer . I was told that it would take a while as well because the company that has the MI (Mortgage Insurance) is currently taking 30-45 days to review offer. Then, you have the investor – Fannie Mae, who also has to consider the offer. There is no 2 week turnaround in this process it is just frustrating.
The system needs to be more efficient, it would be very sad it I have to go through with a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or a foreclosure when I had two good offers (one being cash) that was submitted.

Are you sure you are still in the BOA Coop program? We get 1 hour to 24 hour turn around on all offers. The only reason you would not get a quick response is if the offer has not been submitted correctly in Equator. We just had this happen to us on an offer and called BofA to review our file and we had it submitted incorrectly.

As for the MI and Fannie Mae – those are separate issues to get them approved. My guess is that you have been bumped out of the Coop program and now have to do a standard short sale. BofA does not give you much time to get a Coop done…it is streamlined. So if you can’t get an offer in 90 days they close it.

Hi, We live in Maryland. Our traditional mortgage from BOA is underwater. My husband was laid off for ten months in 2010 and we have not been able to recover financially. We tried to get a re-fi over a year ago and after seven months nothing happened. My husband is now employed and drives over 110 miles daily. He owes 20K+ in past due bills. Our mortgage is current. I have maintained my credit. Recently, I accepted a fulltime job in Williamsburg, VA with a tentative start of Nov 10. I will take our two kids and move. He will stay in Maryland. We have recently started the process for a short sale. However, the SS specialist implied that we need to stop paying our mortgage in order to get approval. One look at our finances will show that we are drowning. Finally, we anticipate a legal separation in the next 3-6 months. Any input? Advice?

I am so sorry to hear about your situation. The good news is that you have some options with your home. I highly recommend discussing your financial situation with your accountant and attorney and lay out a strategy on how to get out of the financial hardship you are currently facing. Before you stop paying your mortgage make sure you are advised of the consequences on not paying your mortgage. However, one of the things you want to avoid is draining all your cash to the point where you cannot even afford food and everyday necessities such as gas to get to and from work. Just as important is you will need to rent a home if and when you move from your primary residence so you will need cash for first and last month rent deposits. So please keep this in mind. We have had many clients who were without work and drained everything to zero and then asked for help. By then they were financially paralyzed and made everything extremely difficult to get back on their feet.

Since this is your primary home I recommend you contact Bank of America ASAP and ask them to send you the paperwork for the HAFA program. They will first see if you qualify for a mortgage modification. If you do not qualify they will proceed forward with a HAFA short sale. There are several benefits to the program including a $3,000 moving incentive at closing and most importantly forgiveness of the deficiency on the first mortgage. Under the HAFA program you will need to work with a qualified Realtor in your area to market and sell your home. I am more than happy to refer and qualified agent to you.

During this process you can continue to live in your home and plan appropriately for you upcoming move.

[...] program that many servicers participate in. However, servicers such as Bank of America also offer a Streamlined Cooperative Short Sale program as an additional alternative to the HAFA program and standard short [...]

[...] the second floor and deeded beach access make this unit at hidden gem in Miramar Beach. This is a Bank of America Streamlined Cooperative Short Sale which means the price is approved and is ready to close. If you are going to purchase a short [...]